Water-wheel



L. E. FRANKE WATER WHEEL.

APPLICATION FILED MAY Il, 1917.

1,391,730. Patentedsept. 27, 1921.

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- UNI-T-EDASTAIS LOUIS FRANKE,"OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT 0F COLUMBIA.

WATER-WHEEL.

To all whom t mag/concern:-

Be it known that I; Louis 'EpFRANKL a citizen of the 'United' States,residing at Vashington, District ofColumbia, have invented new and'useful Improvements in Vater-Vheels, of which the following is aspecification.` 1T I This invention relatestowater wheelslfor use inrelatively smallr or sluggish streams, which ordinarily do not have iowor fall enough to operate a water wheel of usual construction withsuicient force to operate a generator.

lIhe object of the invention is to increase the pressure of the waterupon the main wheel so that streams -now unavailable for such plants maybe used.

With this object in view, the invention consists in the arrangement,construction and combination of parts hereinafter described andparticularly pointed out in the claims, it being understood that I donot intend to limit myseltto the details of construction.

The invention is illustrated in the accom-v panying drawings, in which,

Figure 1 is a plan view of the complete device with parts broken away.

Fig..2 is a side elevation 'also with parts broken away.

Figs. 3 and 4 show side views of modified forms of both impeller wheeland stop, and,

Figs. 5 and 6 show further modications of details. n

In the drawings the numeral 11 indicates a trough or box, through whichwater of the stream is adapted to pass in the direction of the arrow andin which is located a main power wheel 12 equipped with curved blades13, held in spaced relation by the ellies 14;. 15 indicates a drivingpulley.

In advance of the wheel 12 is journaled the water impeller wheel 16forming the basis of this invention and the forward end of the box orhousing 11 is provided with a fiume 17, preferably havingcurved andtapered side walls 1S. 19 indicates a shelter for a generator 20, whichgenerator has a pulley 21 driven by a belt 22 or other device from thedriving pulley 15. B indicates a fan on the generator shaft forcirculating the air in the shelter to prevent condensa tion upon thegenerator.

The impeller wheel 16, shown in Fig. 2, is provided with a hub part 24-to which are connected blades 25 by means of spring specificauonofLetters Patent. Patented Sept. 27,' 1921. Application iiieaivray 11191?. f serial No. 167,885.

hinges 26. Pivoted centrally of the front edge of each blade is a roller27 and a cupi shaped guard 2S is provided back of each roller, sothat noeffective area of the blades will be lost.

A pivoted lever 29 is carried by the floor of the housing 11, so locatedas to engage the rrollers 27, as shown in Fig. 2. This lever iisupwardly pressed by a comparatively strong spring 30 and upward movementof the lever may be adjustably limited by the screw 31.

In operation the flow of the water rotates the impeller wheel 16 until ablade 25 by means `Ot its roller 27 engages the lever 29, whereupon itis moved backward upon its hinges 26 or retarded as shown in Fig. 3,which retardation compresses the springs of the spring hinges 26.Continued rotation of the wheel will cause the retarded 'blade to slipoff the lever 29, so that it slaps or impels the water sharply upon theblades of the main wheel, due to the release of the tension ofthesprings in the hinges 26. Thus increased pressure is brought to bearupon the main wheel 12. Raising or lowering the lever 29 will naturallyvary the retardation of the blades and consequently vary the strength ofthe blow struck the water by the blade for the compression of thesprings of the hinges will be changed accordingly.

In Fig. 3 instead of the spring hinges of Fig. 2 I may use ordinaryhinges 32 but have springs 33 extend between the blades as illustrated.With this form I may use the retarding lever 29 or I may substitute forit the pin 34 carried in a socket 35, provided with a set screw 36 foradjusting the height of the pin vertically to adjust the retardation ofthe blades.

In Fig. 4 I may combine the use of both spring hinges 37 and springs 3Sbetween the blades. Instead ofV rollers on the blades I may providecurved shoes 39, as shown and instead of the retarding means so fardescribed I may use a pivoted pin 40 with springs L11 and 12 formaintaining it normally upright, it being understood that the spring 41is suiiiciently strong to overcome the springs 38 and 37.

The operation of the modied forms of Figs. 3 and 4 is the same as theform of Fig. 2 and therefore need not be reiterated.

In Figs. 5 and 6 the retarding elements are placed at the sides of theblades. The rollers 43 instead of being on the blades are supported fromthe floor of the casing 11. The blades carrying two sets of superposedlugs 44 are adapted to slidably carry the stem 45 of a head 46 having atapered face. A nut 46 is threaded on the stem 45 between the lugs 44,whereby rotation thereof will raise and lower the head 46, which isadapted to engage the roller 43. Rotation of the impeller wheel causesthe heads 46 to engage the rollers 43, whereby the blade is retarded bymeans of rotating about its spring hinges until the heads can slip overthe rollers and strike the desired blow. Adjustment of the headsvertically varies this blow.

Vhat I claim is:

l. In combination with a water wheel, an impeller wheel co-actingtherewith, said immittently obstructing the movement of said impeller.

2. The combination of claim 1 with antifriction elements on the engagingparts of the blades and stop.

3. In combination with a water wheel, an impeller wheel eo-aotingtherewith, said impeller having spring pressed hinged blades, a stop inthe path of said blades, and means extending from the blades forengaging the stop whereby the impeller is intermittently obstructed inits movement.

4. The combination of claim 3 with the addition of means for adjustingthe stop and means with relation to each other.

LOUIS E. FRANKE.

